Be Cool
by Footprints
Summary: When the jazz song ends the crowd is still in space trying to figure it out. They circle in endless orbit around the blue moon: Callisto...


Be Cool

By Water/Air

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I don't own Cowboy Bebop or any of its characters.

This story takes place after Jupiter Jazz (Part 2) and before Bohemian Rhapsody, during the long flight away from Callisto. Also it is similiar to another story of mine called Sympathy but they aren't really related. So whatever... enjoy.

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_What about your right?_

_There is no need to believe..._

_Are you seeing Julia behind my back?!_

_Vicious! Look out!_

_I feel like I'm in a confession booth, you're not a preacher by chance are you?_

_I want my money back..._

_Where's my souvenir!_

_We were comrades... I looked up to you... I believed in you..._

_--_

Faye couldn't get the words out of her mind. What was it about Gren that made him so special? He was just another guy, right? You didn't know him long enough to care; besides he was selfish and he wasn't interested in you. He wasn't even a full man. So what was it about him that made him different? Why? Why! Why?!

Faye was looking at her magazines but not reading them. She was in a bit of shock over this whole incident. Why did Vicious betray Gren? How did Jet find her? What the hell was this all about?

Normally, Faye wouldn't think like this. She would usually go into denial and ignore it like nothing happened. No one else would act like anything happened either so she wouldn't feel alone. Her crew was with her..... But she was trying to get away from them and was now confused. Or was Gren right? Was she afraid of them? Afraid of being left behind?

She refused to accept that she would fall behind. Definitely not to Spike or Ed. But Jet was that one who could always stay one step ahead of her. He knew her because he knew criminals like a cop knew them. They were opposites except that Jet had more knowledge, understanding, and experience than her. He had tracked her down easily; she had only been gone for about five hours. The one thing she had over Jet was the element of surprise. But that wasn't saying much because even Spike, who always thought at the moment instead of planning, could have the element of surprise over Jet. Maybe that was because Jet expected more out of them... or less.

She turned her thoughts from Jet and thought of Gren. There was one thing about Gren, or mainly humans in general, that puzzled her. Around him she felt like an inferior child, mainly because he read her like an open book. He knew what her reasoning and thinking were. But around someone like Vicious, Gren acted inferior, like a child. Vicious had a hold over him. But she couldn't see how Vicious could.

The same Vicious that held her hostage in a church...

The same Vicious who almost killed her...

The same Vicious that wanted Spike's head on a platter...

Vicious was a killer; why couldn't Gren see that? Why did he have to be foolish and blind? Now he was dead. Dead and floating above Callisto. Dead and gone. Faye thought at first that Gren was selfish. Taking her to his home then leaving her to go fight Vicious and die. But now she didn't know what to think. Or who to blame.

Vicious...

Or Gren...

Faye cut off her interests when Jet was taking her back to the ship. After she asked about Julia and got a very hazy response. Gren talked about Julia too. Jet said that Spike had something to do with it. And if he did then so did Vicious. Faye didn't want to go down that road. It would only lead to trouble for her. Trouble that a woman like her didn't need.

Faye rubbed her head as she saw Jet walk by with a meal. She didn't know what time it was anymore. Callisto was too blue. Jet just made meals when he would. He set a plate on the table in front of Faye. "You gonna eat? You must be starving," Jet said.

Faye looked at Jet then at the food. She didn't want to eat but was betrayed by a fierce stomach growl. Jet smiled and sat back eating his own food. "Spike! Come and get it!"

Faye looked at the food again. Fried rice with vegetables but no meat. Spike would have been angry if he wasn't so blue. As he sat down he looked at the food which looked a bit blurry. He turned to Faye, who was slowly eating, then at Jet who was eating politely.

"Best not to," Spike said.

Jet looked up. "And why not?" he demanded.

"I got drugged, I'm waiting for the effects to wear off," Spike said, half yawning and sitting back in the chair. He looked at the fan which was still moving too fast for him to see. When he had gotten up, everything looked blurry. Callisto was one big, blue smudge and he was glad. He didn't need to see it. To see where Julia had been, surrounded by potential rapists and murderers.

But he knew well that she could take care of herself. She had fired a gun before and wasn't bad at it. What bothered him was what Gren knew about Julia. And even more, Vicious and Lin....

Lin....

That one was going to hurt. Lin was a good friend, a great friend. Spike knew him way back and was generous toward him. Spike did feel guilty. Guilty that he "died" and left Lin alone to take after Vicious. Lin shouldn't have been assigned to Vicious. Vicious didn't deserve Lin. What ever the Van was thinking, he would make sure that they told him and that Vicious suffered for Lin's lost soul.

Oh yes... Lin would be a hard one to get over...

Spike couldn't even see him because of the blurriness. He just knew that Lin went down for Vicious, by Gren's hand. But he blamed Vicious. He had to because blaming Gren meant blaming Julia, he couldn't. The blurriness made it feel like a dream, like he was about to wake up. About to stop being a walking zombie and back to his regular self.

It was that dreaming feeling that happened to him when he came in contact with his past. It all felt like a dream, but a not a good dream, while not a nightmare. Just a dream. Spike really didn't have control over it anyway. He did what his instincts told him because that was what really mattered.

Back to the Bebop...

Jet just nodded. He didn't even want to get into it. Best to let it slide off. He turned to Faye to see that her eating pace had quickened, then again at Spike to see that he was looking around the room. Probably waiting for the drug to wear off.

"The Red Eye?" Faye asked. Jet knew that she was pressing it.

"Tranquilizer," Spike said as he let his head hang low as he looked at ground.

Faye decided not to send it further, although she was a bit curious about all of this. This was the second time that she got involved in Spike's past and she wanted to at least know what to expect. Each time, it got worse. She was going to have nightmares about it.

Before she left she had a nightmare. It was one of the strangest ones ever. She dreamed of Earth and how it was luscious and green and how it was populated. Then she saw a bright light. She then appeared on Whitney's back, being carried up the hill. Whitney changed to Jet and when their eyes met, he dropped her onto the ground. Suddenly, there was no back round but Jet and Spike stood in front of her and they were smiling. Smiling at seeing her on her knees, fallen. They enjoyed keeping her lower. That was what her dream said. Then her hands were being tugged on and she was a doll in a giant Edward's hands. 'Oh, Faye-Faye stretches,' or something like that was what Ed said, then she got stretched. Then she woke up in sweat and split with the cash.

When Jet finished, he took up his plate and walked silently into the kitchen. Disrupting the silence would be a first degree offense. Besides, Faye had been through a lot. He was surprised that she wasn't crying a little, but he knew she was tougher than that. He still worried about her. He worried because, while not lacking in will power, she lacked in common sense of her surroundings. It seemed to him like this was a new environment to her, although he couldn't see how.

That was why he went after her on Callisto. The Blue Crow was a lawless region on Callisto and no place for a woman like Faye. He had found her handcuffed to Gren's bed and wondered about what a sick pervert this guy was. It was after he found that she hadn't been raped or assaulted that the mystery of Gren kicked in.

Everyone seemed to be after this guy. That was trouble and he wanted to keep his crew out of trouble. Only, Spike and Faye stuck to it like flies and it only made bailing them out worse. He almost left Spike behind there. He was worried about Spike too. Not about protecting him as much as he was worried that their partnership was irrelevant and that he had misinterpreted him.

He had thought that Spike was lonely when he himself was. He still hadn't forgiven Spike but he would soon. He always did. It was 2 years back when Spike was a year in when Jet got into an argument with Spike. That was the three months when they hardly caught any bounties. Jet had a fit over no food and Spike was talking back about how he could use a hand.

It was then when Spike told him to "be cool" about it. And he was. Just like that. When Spike was serious, you took him seriously. He was serious.

Jet walked into the kitchen, this was too much for him to handle for now. "Good night!"

--

Faye was almost done when Spike started eating. First slowly, then monstrously devouring it. His blue suit was in the driers after lying in the snow for about an hour. Instead he wore his dark red baggy pants and his short sleeve, light blue shirt. His eyes were half opened from pure exhaustion and the red was present from the tranquilizer effect.

They had all had a bad day. Except for Ed and all that was bad for her was that she didn't get a souvenir. Gren had died and Faye was stuck in debt with her crew for running away. It would take a look of trust for them to accept her again. Jet would be tough to convince, but Spike had never really trusted her to begin with. Maybe she should work on that? She realized how much they had in common in terms of hobbies. They both loved money and thrills. They both loved success and hated failure. They both loved that fact that they were against each other. Faye mentally smiled. That last one didn't make much sense.

Then Faye decided, she needed to know. This whole thing would just bug her or haunt her later. Spike knew the most out of any of them. The only worry was that he would ignore her or turn away. But the tranquilizer was still in effect, at least a little. It could persuade him.

When Spike finished his meal, he leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes. He started to deeply inhale and exhale. He did it slowly and repeated it until it began a pattern, a beat. When he was about to doze off, he opened his eyes, sensing someone else's on him. He opened his eyes and saw Faye staring him in the face.

"Yes?" Spike asked in his usual, half-amused, half-annoyed face.

"What are you doing?" Faye asked.

"Trying to sleep," He answered, simply. In a way that required giving away the least amount of information.

"It obviously isn't working," Faye said.

"I never asked you."

Faye was silent and Spike closed his eyes again, hoping for sleep. "Spike?" she asked, interrupting his sleep. What did she want now? What the hell did she want from him? He opened his eyes.

"What?"

"What happened on Callisto?"

"You were on it. You tell me," Spike said in an annoying tone. But he was honestly amused. Why did she even want to know?

"How did... Gren... die?" Faye asked, turning her head away from Spike on the question.

Spike wondered how in the hell she knew Gren. Or knew that he knew Gren. He wondered what had happened with her. Was she in contact with Gren? Did she know something about Julia that Gren didn't tell him? He NEEDED to know. "You knew Gren?" he asked, keeping his cool up.

"I met him, in the bar I was at," Faye said.

"What was he doing?"

"Playing his saxophone."

"Did he say anything about anyone?" Spike asked. He had to know.

Faye turned to him angrily. "Yeah, I'm sure he knew billions of people who want to kill you as well! Why don't you tell me who they are?" Faye demanded.

Spike smiled to himself. Saying something about them being dreams wouldn't cut it. He decided to choose his options:

a) tell Faye about Julia and his past

b) ignore her

c) walk away now!

d) tell her to step off!

e) sit back and play it out cool

Spike chose his best option to sit back. He looked at Faye and saw a bit of anger in her eyes. "Angry, are we?"

"Your damn past keeps interfering with me! I'm seeing all these people who would want to use me as bait to kill you and sooner or later I won't live to tell about it!" Faye yelled.

"Then stay out of my business. You are the one that walks into it every time. Stay with your own business," he said calmly.

"I'll remember that when that psycho from the church has his blade to my throat," Faye said sarcastically. "How the hell am I supposed to avoid your past if it keeps popping up in front of me. All these names: Vicious, Gren, Julia..." That last one was a mistake. Faye knew it and Spike knew it.

A long silence came then and no one moved for a minute. Then Spike broke it:

"Internally," Spike said.

"Internally?" Faye asked, confused.

"Gren had an internal disease or something and it kicked in when Vicious shot down his zip-craft," Spike said, keeping his head pointed at the floor. "He was almost dead when I found him,"

"What happened?" Faye asked.

"He died," Spike said.

Upon hearing the words from Spike, the person who had seen him last, she lost hope. She looked down at the floor; her hair fell into her face. Spike watched this display of sorrow. He knew that he wouldn't do anything. It was Faye's sorrow, not his own. He had other things to worry about. It was her fault to begin with. She dug the hole so deep that she realized it was time to dig up.

"What am I supposed to say?" Faye asked, desperate for answers.

"Be cool," Spike said gently.

He would let her solve it on her own. He had other things to worry about. He would have to remember to buy some flowers and send them on Lin's funeral back at HQ. With these thoughts, Spike started to deep breathe again and fell asleep.

Faye sat by the windows, looking out at Callisto. It was so dark from above that Faye thought it was all dead. Maybe it was, maybe not. She didn't care anymore. But she did make a vow. A vow never to come back. Then she made another vow. A vow to stay ahead...

--

Vicious sat and watched the stars from the Red Dragon battleship. Lin had been here with him before and he had sworn to protect him for the honor of the Van. Lin was a fool then, honor was not needed, fear was. With fear a leader like myself would rule and no rebellion would come of it. No Mao division and no new division. Just the Red Dragons.

Gren was dead...

Mao was dead...

Lin was dead...

But there would be others. Others who would stand in his way:

The Van...

Julia...

Spike.......

He would make sure to let no one stand in his way. They didn't deserve to even stand in his shadows. He knew that he must eliminate every possible option. The Van were fools and threatened him. Julia and Spike were personal scores. He would make sure to kill them.

But, in the end, he still didn't know what had happened. Who had betrayed who? Did they betray him or did he betray them? Then there was Gren. He had betrayed Gren, but why? Not even Vicious could give the answers of why he had betrayed his comrade.

Comrade...

Gren liked that word, didn't he? He called you his comrade and you don't know why. You betrayed him but he still followed you. You were an inspiration to him. You were like an older brother. You were his comrade.

"There is no comrade for life, only enemies. Enemies that must perish. Trust no one and live or have friends and die," Vicious spat to the empty space.

_I looked up to you... I believed in you..._

"Believe in something else. I have no time to support others."

Before Vicious's eyes, painful memories flashed before him. Then they ceased and Vicious was left in the quiet and calm experience of watching Callisto disappear into the empty, black space...

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Shut Up...


End file.
